Federal Judge Clears Eric Adams of Corruption Charges, Removing the ‘Sword of Damocles’ Over His Head

The judge presiding over the case against Mayor Adams has dismissed his indictment over allegations of corruption.United States District Judge Dale Ho of the Southern District of New York, has dismissed the case against Mr. Adams with prejudice, preventing it from being refiled in the future. The ruling comes after the Justice Department withdrew its request in February to dismiss the charges after several prosecutors at New York and Washington had refused to seek out a removal at the behest of the Trump Administration. Some even resigned over the matter, including the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District at the time, Danielle Sassoon.Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove wrote in his motion at the time that the DOJ is seeking the dismissal because they did not fully evaluate “the evidence or the legal theories” before charging Mr. Adams which prevented him from giving his “full attention and resources to addressing illegal immigration and violent crime.”Judge Ho explained why he decided to drop the charges against Mr. Adams in the conclusion of his latest motion.“There may or may not be good reasons to drop this prosecution,” he writes. “But the reasons articulated by DOJ, if taken at face value, are inconsistent with a decision to leave the charges in the Indictment hanging like the proverbial Sword of Damocles over the Mayor. And there are many reasons to be troubled by DOJ’s proffered rationales – further supporting dismissal with prejudice.”“Some will undoubtedly find today’s decision unsatisfying,” Judge Ho said, making clear why he came to the ruling. “[A]ny decision by this Court to deny the Government’s Motion to Dismiss would be futile at best, because DOJ could — and, by all indications, unequivocally would — simply refuse to prosecute the case, inevitably resulting in a dismissal after seventy days for violating the Mayor’s right to a speedy trial. That route would simply postpone finality in this case to a date uncomfortably close to the June 24 mayoral primary. The public interest would not be served by such an outcome.”Mr. Adams took to the steps of Gracie Mansion to claim victory. “Today finally marks the end of this chapter,” he said during a press conference. “As I’ve said all along, this case should have never been brought, and I did nothing wrong.”It was originally alleged back in September that Mr. Adams had accepted illegal foreign campaign donations from Turkish officials and that he accepted more than $100,000 in lavish travel gifts.According to the original indictment, Mr. Adams took at least six trips around the world on the Turkish government’s dime. In June 2021, a Turkish official told a staffer for the mayor that their government was able to make all the arrangements “with one phone call,” including “[The] flight, yacht tour, hotels, rental cars.” It’s alleged that he pushed for the priorities of the Turkish government back at New York City in exchange for the red carpet treatment.Among the gifts he received were described as “free rooms at opulent hotels, free meals at high-end restaurants and free luxurious entertainment while in Turkey.”The mayor is also alleged to have tried to cover up the graft he got overseas by paying “a nominal fee to create the appearance of having paid for travel that was in fact heavily discounted” and he also deleted messages with co-conspirators.Mr. Trump has said he thought Mr. Adams was the victim of an unfair prosecution and has railed repeatedly against what he called a politicized Biden Justice Department, which charged him with multiple felonies in two separate cases. Those charges were all dropped after Mr. Trump won re-election.

Federal Judge Clears Eric Adams of Corruption Charges, Removing the ‘Sword of Damocles’ Over His Head

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